A killer who beat his stepdaughter to death with a hammer then stabbed her husband before calmly collecting their children from school and taking them to McDonald’s has been found guilty of murder.
Derek Martin, 67, ‘just flipped’ and brutally attacked Chloe Bashford, 30, in her own home after a row erupted over money.
He grabbed a hammer and bludgeoned her on the head several times before walking to the kitchen and fetching a knife – then stabbing her eight times as she lay on the floor.
Martin then lay in wait for Bashford’s husband Josh, 33, to return home at lunch before chasing him upstairs and stabbing him four times and strangling him to death with a belt.
The grandfather attempted to clear up the carnage before calmly picking up the deceased’s children from school.
He then took them for a meal at McDonald’s before dropping them off at their grandmother’s house and turning himself into the police.
Police body cam footage showed the moment he walked into Brighton police station and chillingly confessed: ‘I’ve killed two people.’
Today Martin of Moulsecoomb, Brighton was found guilty by a jury at Brighton Law Courts.
Pictured is Derek Martin, who was accused of murdering Chloe and her husband Josh, 33
The couple were murdered in their home by Derek Martin – who then took their children out to McDonald’s
The families of both victims gasped as the jury pronounced Martin guilty of both charges of murder.
Martin was impassive as the verdicts were delivered and showed no reaction or emotion.
He had denied murder but admitted manslaughter with diminished responsibility.
It was previously heard that Mrs Bashford was attacked first with the hammer before then being stabbed by Martin.
The prosecutor said: ‘He attacked Chloe with a hammer. He hit her with the hammer on the top of her head. Then he went to the kitchen to retrieve a large knife. Having done so, he repeatedly stabbed Chloe with that knife causing severe injuries from which she died.
‘He stabbed her eight times, to the upper back and to the abdomen. Two stab wounds penetrated to a depth of about 20cm. The knife caused severe injuries from which Chloe died.
‘A few minutes later, at about 12.20pm, Josh arrived home. Just after he entered the house, Derek Martin attacked him.’
After picking up Mrs Bashford’s four children and leaving the youngsters with his ex-wife, Elaine Sturges, in Brighton, Martin sent a text to his former lover – who was Chloe’s mother.
It was previously heard that Mrs Bashford was attacked first with the hammer before then being stabbed by Martin. She is pictured here with her husband
‘Elaine I’m so sorry, I can’t believe what I’ve done, I know everyone hates me anyway especially the boys, I hate myself anyway and please, please look after the children really well,’ he said.
‘I’m just about to walk into the police station then that’s my days over and good job too, I know it’s going to mean nothing but I’m so sorry, don’t take the children home x.’
Martin had a violent upbringing, the court had heard.
He started stealing while he was still school aged and had been in and out of prison most of his adult life.
Martin had been sectioned under the mental health act and was said at court to have had a history of self harm and depression.
‘He is emotionally unstable, sometimes called borderline personality disorder,’ a psychiatrist said.
The best description was a recurrent depressive disorder, he said.
Martin told Broadmoor doctors he noticed a change in his mental state in the months before their deaths.
‘He reported feeling depressed, not sleeping, poor concentration, thoughts of wanting to die and stopping his medication.
‘He said he did not deserve to be better,’ the psychiastrist said.
Martin offered financial support and did jobs around the house and told doctors he was committing burglaries to help the family financially.
Dr Cumming said: ‘He began to have the negative cognition he was being abused by Chloe. He began to think of her as somebody who was using him. Something he said was in his head all the time.
‘I didn’t get the sense he was making up symptoms. He had reported a reasonably consistent subset of symptoms.
‘There is internal consistency in the accounts he has given,’ Dr Cumming said.
The attack on Chloe and Josh was an unplanned and impulsive attack in response to events of that day, Dr Cumming said.
The court heard Martin argued with Chloe over money in the moments before he attacked her and lashed out after she told him not to visit her and her children any more.
Dr Cumming said: ‘He felt he was being used. When she said don’t come around any more, it felt like he was being cut off. The anger led him to kill and attack her.
‘There was no sense of planning ahead. This seems to be what fuelled it.’
